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7th grade · English Language Arts · Unit 12 of 13

Framing the Message

Framing, loaded words and sponsored posts

What your child practices

Children look at how headlines, graphs, camera angles, loaded words and sponsored posts shape a message, and how a reader's community and feelings affect their reaction.

Minnesota K-12 Academic Standards benchmark: 7.1.5.3; 7.1.8.2 · how images, headlines and word choice shape meaning

How we explain it

Children can open this short lesson before they practice.

  1. Framing is how a message is shaped: headlines, camera angles, graphs and loaded words.
  2. Sponsored posts are ads, and apps show more of what you like to keep you watching.
  3. Ask what is left out, and why some people react differently.

Example: Why might a documentary interview only people who agree with the filmmaker? Leaving out the other side makes one view look stronger. That shapes the viewer’s opinion. Answer: to make the argument seem stronger

Framing the Message in Minnesota

In the Minnesota K-12 Academic Standards, this is unit 12 of 13 in 7th grade English Language Arts, after Research Skills and before Spelling: Prefixes and Patterns.

Gradelings describes a child's practice on this unit as Beginning, Approaching, Meeting or Exceeding (Four practice steps). That reflects practice, not a report-card mark: the teacher decides the mark.

Source: Minnesota Department of Education (MDE)

Sample questions

A taste of this unit. In the app, questions change every time and get easier or harder to match your child.

  1. Question 1

    An influencer praises a backpack and adds #ad. What does #ad tell you?

    • it is a news story
    • they were paid or given something to promote it
    • the post is fake
    • the backpack is the best

  2. Question 2

    Why do apps and sites show you more posts like the ones you already liked?

    • to save battery
    • by accident
    • to keep you watching longer
    • to teach you new ideas only

  3. Question 3

    How does a person's community affect their reaction to a news story?

    • it can shape what they care about and how they feel
    • it decides the facts
    • it changes the story's words
    • it has no effect

  4. Question 4

    What is sponsored content?

    • free news
    • paid content made to look like regular articles or posts
    • a school assignment
    • a dictionary

  5. Question 5

    Why might an ad show a product next to a smiling, healthy athlete?

    • to report sports scores
    • to show the price
    • to link the product with health and success
    • to explain the rules

  6. Question 6

    Why is “Studies prove it!” a weak claim on its own?

    • it has an exclamation mark
    • it names no study, so you can't check it
    • it is too short
    • studies are never right

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